


Bleached Lives

by ftbprotocol



Series: Bunnies I Might Continue [2]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Gen, Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:07:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24725008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ftbprotocol/pseuds/ftbprotocol
Summary: A fic collection of various one-shots (that I may continue) on what it would be like to live in Bleach. Mostly self-inserts.Ch1: Being 'reborn' as a hollow sucks. Getting caught by a shinigami in the world of the living sucks even more.
Series: Bunnies I Might Continue [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1809706
Comments: 21
Kudos: 61
Collections: A Collection of Beloved Inserts





	1. As a Hollow

**Author's Note:**

> Going through some old stuff I wrote and decided to post the good ones! I may continue them as the inspiration strikes or split them off into their own stories but wanted to share what I have. Hope you enjoy :)

Crouched behind a dumpster, stash of candy safely crammed into a stolen backpack, she finally allowed herself to let out a breath of relief and relax a bit. Turning to sit cross-legged, back against the wall, she clutched her precious cargo and focused on compressing her spiritual energy back into the form of a sword.

All across her body, her skin changed colour from the browns and blacks of the alley to its usual dark grey. From there, she underwent another transformation. Her katana formed at her back, her skin gained a pinkish hue, and white pants partially covered by a loose white sleeveless shirt became visible.

_ I did it. _ She smiled, relaxing for the first time in hours, and reached into a side pocket of the backpack.

This was her fifth unauthorized incursion into the land of the living, and every time she feared getting caught. Not just from her king, who had eyes everywhere, but also the people who called this place home. There were way too many random humans who could see spirits here.

But it was worth the risk. It was astonishingly easy to placate people back home with the odd candy. This haul should keep her safe for at least another few months. And, if she was very lucky, convince a certain someone to let her hang around more often. 

She took out a small book, not on the list of items she’d tasked herself with procuring, but something for herself. On the cover were brightly coloured girls in vibrant skirts posing while defeating a monster. It was something from her past, staring up at her in this unfamiliar world, and she hadn’t been able to stop herself from grabbing it off the shelf.

To hide her escape from the living world, she had to wait for a patrolling shinigami to return to the spiritual world. Their portal's energy would hide her own long enough for her to escape detection.

But until it was time to head back to the life that left her a constant nervous wreck, she was going to enjoy this reminder of a childhood far out of reach. It's not like there was anyone to miss her there.

Flicking through the pages, she admired the beautiful art style. In this chapter it looked like a new girl was going to join the team, this one dressed in a green skirt. Settling in to enjoy the manga, she began to read, losing all sense of time, determined to finish it before anything else.

It wasn’t long, she was maybe a third of the way through the story, when a strange  _ click-clack  _ noise sounded down the alley. At first she ignored it, assuming it to be something harmless like a stray cat, or a bird dragging garbage around, but as it got closer it began to penetrate that the rhythm mimicked someone walking. Their steps slow and deliberate.

She glanced up to see a man walking down the alley, didn’t recognize him, and quickly dismissed him. Even if he was wearing weird shoes, it was just a human, and humans couldn't see spirits. And even in the unlikely event that he was one of the weird ones that could, there was no reason for him to pay attention to her. Its not like she looked like a hollow.

The wooden shoes continued to clack against the pavement while she returned to her manga. But as she read, something began to nag at the back of her mind, preventing her from actually absorbing the words before her. The human reminded her of someone, but she couldn’t quite place who.

Frowning faintly, she looked up and stiffened when his eyes met hers. A small smirk played about his lips as he stopped, a cane tapping idly on his shoulder, no less than 10 meters from where she was sitting.

_ He can see me!? _ Her eyes widened in the beginnings of panic.

“You’re a hard person to track down…” He spoke, voice light, airy, and completely unconcerned. 

It was only when a fan snapped into place before his face, leaving only his cold eyes visible between the fan and his green and white striped hat that realization dawned and he finished, “Hollow-san.”

In all her wildest fears of being caught in the world of the living, somehow she had forgotten about Urahara Kisuke.

“Shit,” she squeaked, eyes wide.

Only centuries of a well-honed fight-or-flight instinct that focused mainly on ‘flight,’ saved her. Black chains sprung from the ground in a circle around her, trying to bind and contain her. Backpack clutched in one hand, manga in the other, she managed to dodge through their grasping hooks, bounce off the alley wall and into open space.

As she spun through the air, a black mist hissed out of tiny openings in her shoulder-length black hair, quickly obscuring her movements. She landed in a crouch and rolled to the side, anticipating a follow up attack that never came. 

Thankfully the mist spread quickly, leaving her huddled in a black cloud. 

“Hm,” She heard the source of her panic sigh, “Figures it wouldn’t be that easy.”

She only waited half a second to make sure she wasn’t about to be immediately attacked before concentrating on opening a garganta.

_ Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit! _ Was all she could think in her panic.

If she was powerful like the numbered Espada, all it would have taken was a single second to open the mouth to Hueco Mundo. As it was, she was distinctly average, and therefore it took a few precious seconds to create the tare in reality.

From down the other end of the alley a voice shouted. That was all the warning she got before a sword cleaved through the obscuring mist, breaking her concentration. She cried out as it sliced down her arm, unable to dodge in time, hierro not nearly strong enough to repel the cut. She was only saved from a crippling injury by her backpack. The sword ripped it open, sending candy and chocolate bars scattering along the rough pavement.

“Running away so soon?” Urahara spoke in a voice as casual as his follow-up attack, sword easily dodged as she retreated back into the expanding black mist.

Her back hit the wall of the alley, hand clutching the deep wound and trying to stem the bleeding.  _ How did he find me!? _ She frantically thought, listening for any movement.

There’d been a shout as soon as her garganta had begun to form, was that how? Unwilling to risk it again, she tried to phase through the wall at her back. It was something she often forgot was possible, and something she should have done immediately to aid her escape. 

But nothing happened.

“What?” She breathed, unable to help herself. That had never happened before, were they… somehow blocking her? She had half a second to curse herself for making noise (she hadn’t been so careless in years!) before dodging to the side. Narrowly avoiding another painful injury.

“There you are!” The one who’d thoroughly rattled her chirped.

His sword easily followed and predicted her subsequent dodges but she managed to avoid the sharp edge of his blade. She knew it wasn’t her own skill that allowed her to do this though, only the fact that he couldn’t see her properly, while her vision was only slightly inconvenienced.

Her bleeding arm left little splatters on the ground with each dodge.

Lips pressed shut to prevent any more involuntary noises she rolled towards the alley wall and felt along it, trying again to phase through it. Again nothing happened, and she was forced to dodge just as she began to suspect why. The wall had felt smooth. Too smooth. It was almost as if she was feeling a barrier, not a brick wall.

Through all this, her wakizashi rested undrawn across her lower back. Smaller than a katana and larger than a tanto, it was something she still wasn’t used to having as an option. It was something she’d been working on getting better with, but every time she was truly panicked, she’d fall back to old habits. As much grief as she got from the other numeros for constantly running from confrontations, it had kept her alive thus far.

“Come on, hollow-san.” His voice taunted her, making her tense up even more in fear, “You’re making this much harder than it needs to be.”

She clenched her teeth in a silent snarl, barely holding herself back from retorting to his insultingly cheerful tone.

Or maybe it wasn’t a taunt, but a signal to the other voice that had shouted earlier, that she had completely forgotten about. For a strong wind barreled down the alley, clearing her dark mist. 

Scattered between her and the person that should have been on her top 10 list of People to Avoid at All Costs, how the hell had she forgotten about him, were the fractured pieces of chocolate bars and individually wrapped candy.

Urahara Kisuke, fan put away and sword held casually at his side (and of course he wasn’t taking her seriously as a threat and why would he?). His face matched the mocking edge his voice had held, but she couldn’t quite contain the shiver at the coldness that remained in his eyes.

His eyes locked onto hers as soon as the mist had cleared enough to reveal her, but he made no move to attack. Perhaps waiting to see what she would do next.

Or maybe… he was holding her attention while the person behind her, the one who’d cleared her mist, readied their next attack.

Why, oh why, had she forgotten that this man was lurking around the world of the living? When she’d first realized that she’d been reborn into the world of Bleach, she’d tried to wrack her brain for the key people and the main plot. Unfortunately, after a hundred years as a hollow, only the bare essentials had remained. Aizen’s plot to become soul king, Ichigo’s strange powers, what the Gotei 13 was, and that Quincy existed and were to be avoided. 

Somehow, the mastermind behind Aizen’s defeat had slipped her mind. It was only when he was standing before her, straight out of the anime, that the knowledge of who he was registered. Perhaps, if she’d remembered him, and hadn’t been reborn a Hollow, she’d have sought him out. But now, with all the stories she’d heard about his old division from her fellow hollows, gaining his attention was one of the worst things to have happened in this new after-death existence.

His eyes flicked away from hers only briefly, scanning the candy strewn between them, seemingly bemused if she was reading the raised eyebrow correctly. That brief second of inattention was all she needed to release her sword and activate her camouflage, skin changing pigment to match her surroundings perfectly. 

It was a sword release that was the object of scorn from the other Arancarr. Not only was it instant and subtle, it was made for escape instead of battle. She loved it. It was the only reason she hadn't been eaten as a lower level hollow.

She slowly crouched down where she was, trying to hide the slow drip of blood down her fingers by holding the hand just above the small pool that had already formed.

Urahara immediately noticed, of course. He tapped his sword against his shoulder and gave a put upon sigh. She scowled silently at him but held her breath, hoping he’d think she’d escaped. 

“You’re just full of useful tricks, aren’t you hollow-san.” He said, eyes roving the area. “However, unlucky for you,” His voice took on a sing-song quality, “So are we, right?” He finished, looking at someone behind her, “Tessai?”

She cursed as chains sprung up all round her, whipping wildly in every direction. She dodged between them, camouflage working overtime to compensate for the rapid movement. 

This time, the chains flailed wildly in every direction. Impossible for her to predict and the only open space available was up or through her two assailants. Knowing she stood no chance against them, her dodges took her higher and higher into the air. Of course, she was so focused on dodging and getting away from Urahara Kisuke that she lost focus on her camouflage.

Her eyes widened when he suddenly appeared in front of her, a flash of light from his raised palm sending her smashing into the ground. And directly into the heart of the writhing chains.

"No." She grunted, wind briefly knocked out of her with how hard she hit the concrete.

Before the chains could completely engulf her, she fired off a few low powered cero from her hands. They destroyed the chains attempting to wrap around her chest, but not the ones quickly constricting her legs. It was only thanks to the fact that she was still mostly camouflaged that saved her from a beam of energy to the chest. It still sliced into her shoulder, but not enough to incapacitate the arm.

She tried to roll away, but the chains were working their way up her body, anchoring her to the ground. To the shinigami, it looked like the chains were wrapping around a hazy mirage.

She managed to form more low powered ceros to disintegrate the chains, but before she could fire them, a bolt of golden energy slammed into her chest. With both the chains and the cero's as a reference point, Urahara must have been able to pinpoint where her torso was.

The golden energy forces her hands behind her back. She thrashes in one more desperate attempt to get free, panic clogging her throat, before the chains slam her into the ground. With a crack, her head hit the ground, the impact startling her enough that her camouflage fades, her skin reverting to its base grey tone.

_ No no no! Please No!  _ Was all she could think.

The clack of wood on concrete near her head caused her to flinch. Her struggles resuming as terror gripped her hollow heart. What would he do with her? Dissect her? Put her through horrifying experiments? A vision of a small cell with no room to move, as she was treated like an animal floated before her mind's eye. She’d once seen the kinds of experiments Szael did. This man would be no different.

"Now, for what purpose did Aizen-san create you for, I wonder?"

“He didn’t.” She slurred, vision dimming as darkness overtook her.

“Not to worry! I’m sure I’ll figure it out.” His voice was far too cheerful. It might have been an attempt to put her at ease, but in that it failed miserably. To her it just sounded sinister.

Her last thought before it completely claimed her was not a new one, but the reason for it sure was.

_ Why? Why was I reborn as a Hollow!? _


	2. As Orihime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ch 2: Life as Orihime isn't so bad, once she adjusts. But then Ishida starts his little hollow killing competition and she's never been so furious in either of her lives. There's no way she's letting that brat get away with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a fragment of something I was contemplating turning into it's own story but I'm not sure if I'll have the time. So I added a bit of backstory to the scene for context and decided to post! The idea hit me while I was re-reading the manga a while ago. I'd forgotten what Ishida was like in the first arc.
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy!

Living a life as Inoue Orihime wasn’t as bad as it could have been. 

At first it sucked. Getting saddled with alcoholic and abusive parents had been really shitty when she first realized she’d reincarnated in Japan. Thankfully she’d had an older brother who adopted her and got the two of them away from those horrible people. She lived alone now, the brother long dead, but otherwise she was now fine.

What had really weirded her out, more than the fact that reincarnation was real, was her newfound ability to see ghosts. She’d never believed in them in her past life. But after being reincarnated she was forced to reassess her beliefs. In the end she just figured that her ability to see ghosts was linked to her ability to remember her past life. Shrugged and moved on.

Of course, then the day that changed her perception of everything happened. In one day she met a young boy with bright orange, natural hair. And on that day saw her first ghost monster with a creepy white mask.

She had a major freak out after that. 

Once she was able to get past her denial, she started to pay more attention to the quiet boy. They didn’t share a class but she did see him around the school yard. Her friend Tatsuki eventually introduced them when Orihime finally decides to take her up on her offer to join her Karate class.

The strange bruises on his body, that couldn't possibly be from karate class or from the kids at school, made her extremely suspicious. It only took one meeting with his father while he was picking up Ichigo from Karate class that she remembered. His father attacks him at home.

After that, and especially given her own recent experience with abuse, she took it upon herself to look after the young boy. And in the process became a kind of older sister figure to him. She didn’t mean to. In fact she’d wanted to keep her distance. But she couldn’t let the abuse go on without saying anything. So it just sort of… happened.

Her new normal was again disturbed when Kuchiki Rukia appeared in her classroom.

Then one day, two months after Rukia first appeared, a mass of hollows showed up all over town. It took her a while to figure out what was happening. It’d been so long since she read the manga that she's completely forgotten that this would happen. It’s the energy of both ichigo and ishida running around town that finally sparked her memory. 

She so rarely feels any strong emotion that the sudden rage that crashed into her took her breath away. How dare Ishida put everyone at risk. How dare that arrogant boy threaten the lives of all the people here just for his own selfish pride.

She ran into the school yard to find Tatsuki defending some classmates from others with weird seeds sticking out of their body. She's badly beaten up, and one of her arms was broken. Knowing that her friend couldn’t see the hollow she rushed to help.

In the process she awakened the same powers as the version of her in the manga.

It made her want to scream her frustration. She doesn't want to get involved in all this bullshit! In fact, she'd been hoping that Tatsuki would be the one to get powers and join Ichigo on his trip into Soul Society. Instead, she's being dragged into the stupid manga by that idiot Ishida.

She’s going to kill that arrogant boy.

Not long after she’d killed the hollow and Tatsuki had collapsed, a man she’d been avoiding for years approached her. Urahara Kisuke asked her to come with him, if she wanted to know what had been happening. She didn't want to go, but also wants to make sure Ichigo is ok.

So she agreed.

Watching Ichigo injure the monstrously strong menos and drive it back into the crack in the sky was terrifying in person. She and Chad watched the whole thing from a safe distance where Urahara had left them. 

However, as soon as Ichigo collapsed in exhaustion, she ran out of the building. Urahara had asked them to stay back, but there’s no way she was doing what that manipulative bastard wanted.

“Ichigo! Are you ok?” She yelled, rushing past Urahara.

The man almost reached out to stop her, like he didn't want Ichigo to know that she could see him in his shinigami robes. But she'd yelled too loud and he couldn't do anything to stop her. Besides, it wasn't Ichigo she was really concerned with. She could see the idiot would be fine. 

“Inoue?” Ichigo looked dumbfounded at her. “What are you doing here?”

"And Ishida-san!" She stepped past Ichigo and smiled down at the panting boy on his knees, blood still slowly running down his arms from whatever he’d done to help Ichigo.

Though she had a harmless smile on her face, inside she was contemplating the best way to deal with the idiot. She really badly wanted to kick him in the balls. But the pathetic look on his face made her hesitate.

She grit her teeth to hide her frustration. Instead putting on her most over the top ditzy airhead voice, "Did you both take care of all those monsters that were everywhere?” She gasped and put her hands over her chest for emphasis, “It was so scary!"

“Inoue-san you can see him?” Ishida looked up at her, shocked. 

Like the idiot hadn't realized what it meant for their classmates to have such high spiritual energy. He had to know that many of their classmates had higher than average energy levels. It was so obvious to anyone who could sense spirit energy.

"I didn't know there were two heroes in our class!"

Ichigo's face, while shocked when she first appeared, gained a queasy edge. He knew her opinion on people playing 'heroes'. Ishida didn't seem to know what to say. He even looked a little proud. The shit.

"If it wasn't for you heroes, they'd all be dead right now!"

“Wait, who? Is everyone-?” Ichigo tried to ask but she just talked over him. He at least picked up on what she was getting at.

"I didn't see either of you near the school so you must have just been moving too fast!" Ishida's eyes went wide. He knew neither of them had been anywhere near the school. She could tell by the horror creeping into his expression.

"Only, like, five or 10 people have broken bones. And everyone is gonna need stitches for all the cuts from the claws and stuff. But otherwise, you heroes really saved our classmates!"

“Hey, Inoue.” She looked over to Ichigo, who was now frowning up at her from where he hadn’t moved, still lying on his back. “He knows he messed up, so you don't need to-”

"An elementary school was attacked as well." She smiled aggressively at him which shut him up for all of a second.

“My sisters!” Ichigo tried to sit up, but collapsed back with a grunt.

“I heard a bunch of kids playing soccer almost got eaten too... But I heard you saved them! Although it didn't sound like they looked like either of you... But I must have been misheard..." She tapped her chin with a finger, pretending to be thinking.

Ishida bowed his head hiding his expression, “I get it.” He softly said to the ground.

"Huh?" She tilted her head with the most ditzy look she could bring herself to make.

“I said 'I get it!' I know people were hurt. It wasn't supposed to attract so many hollows! But I took care of it! I protected-”

He stopped talking and looked up at her when she put both her hands on his shoulders. He was sitting back on his heels, knees spread open just enough for what she wanted to do.

"You protected them. From the danger you put them in?" She absently wondered what her smile looked like, to put such an intimidated look on his face.

Ichigo, the snitch, tried to warn Ishida. “Wait, Inoue-!”

But he was too slow to stop the toe of her boot, punting Ishida right in the balls.

“Urk!”

His shoulders were ripped from her hands and she took a step back while he curled into an agonized ball. From the heaving sounds coming from him, he was close to throwing up.

She dropped her smile and stared down at the boy shivering in agony.

“Was that really-?” Ichigo started to ask.

She glanced sharply at him. He flinched and brought both hands up to protect his crotch. Smart boy. He knew her well enough to predict what she was contemplating next. It'd been a while since he saw this side of her. 

As she eyed him, she tried to remember when. Ah yes. When she'd kneed his father in the balls for his treatment of Ichigo and his daughters. She’d been forced to play it off as an accident, of course, but man had it been worth it.

She smiled menacingly at him. He brought his knees-up for extra protection. "Don't tell me you went along with his childish competition." 

He frantically shook his head, "No way!"

"Good." She sighed, deciding to believe him.

For a moment, they both were quiet, watching Ishida struggling to stop dry heaving.

“My sisters?” Ichigo asked.

"They're fine." She breathed some of her anger out. The sight of Ishida in pain slowly but surely draining it away. "Those guys took care of them." She angled her head to where the others were.

The shady shopkeeper was staring at them, his expression hidden by his hat and a paper fan. Around him, his weird employees were planting some sticks in the ground and doing something to the crack in the sky. Rukia was on her knees behind Urahara, a shell shocked look still on her face.

It looked like the Cad had followed her too, but he was still keeping his distance, instead watching the kids with the sticks.

"Chad... what is he... can he see..." Ichigo mumbled.

Ishida groaned, “You-” Bringing her attention back to him. 

Now where was she? Right. Actions have consequences. And if Ishida was going to act like a child. She'd treat him like one.

She crouched and grabbed his right elbow. He fought her, but his arms were shaking from all the strain he'd put them through. He curled into himself harder, probably thinking she wanted to hit him in the balls again. Instead, she slipped his bracelet off his wrist, the blood making it easy.

Bad children get their toys taken away.

She wiped her hands clean on his white, short sleeved shirt, and stood.

“Give that back.” Ishida wheezed, ineffectively reaching for her.

"Why?" She tilted her head and looked down at him. "You obviously can't be trusted with it."

“But he won't be able to defend himself from the hollows. Inoue... I know you're angry with him, but he's got a lot of spirit energy. They're attracted to people like him." Ichigo came to his defence. Surprising both her and Ishida.

She took a deep breath. Held it. Then slowly let it out. Stopping herself from saying the first thing that came to mind. Yelling at them wouldn't result in them listening. She knew that from years of dealing with Ichigo. And if she'd heard the things Ishida was yelling before he collapsed correctly, then he was just as thick headed as Ichigo.

"Then he'll just have to ask," She clenched her hands into fists, "One of the people he almost killed, to protect him."

“I didn’t kill…” Ishida grumbled a denial. She decided to be magnanimous and pretend not to hear it.

"When you've apologized to everyone you hurt. I'll give this back to you." She dangled his quincy cross in front of his agonized face.

"And Ishida. Drag other people into your selfish, childish problems again, and I'll make sure you can never pass your idiocy on to the next generation." She looked meaningfully at his crotch. Ishida flinched and curled back into the ball he'd been slowly coming out of.

“You-.” Ishida groaned.

"This isn't some shonen manga." 

Except it was. And screw the bastard for making her participate in it. 


End file.
